


Past Can Haunt, The

by orphan_account



Category: The West Wing
Genre: Episode Tag, Episode: s02e09 Galileo, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2000-12-15
Updated: 2000-12-15
Packaged: 2019-05-15 12:29:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14790543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: CJ's past comes back to haunt her.





	Past Can Haunt, The

**Author's Note:**

> A copy of this work was once archived at National Library, a part of the [ West Wing Fanfiction Central](https://fanlore.org/wiki/West_Wing_Fanfiction_Central), a West Wing fanfiction archive. More information about the Open Doors approved archive move can be found in the [announcement post](http://archiveofourown.org/admin_posts/8325).

Disclaimers: The West Wing and it's characters are the property of Aaron Sorkin, Warner Brothers and NBC. No copyright infringement is intended. No profit is being made from this.

Rating: PG-13, a little bit of language.

Spoilers: Galileo and In the Shadow of Two Gunmen

Summary: CJ's past comes back to haunt her.

 

She could hear the phone ringing. She tried to ignore it, but it wasn't going away. She hated when this happened. She thought of killing the person on the other end of the line. It was one in the morning, and there was no way this would be good news.

"Hello." CJ said.

"CJ, I'm sorry to wake you." She heard Danny Concannon say. "But I got a story tip tonight I think you should know about."

"Okay, what?"

"You remember Tad Whitney?"

"Yeah." CJ said cautiously.

"He's throwing a story around, and sooner or later someone is going to bite."

"What's the story?" CJ asked.

"He's saying that there are some improprieties with why you didn't hire him."

"What exactly is he saying?" CJ asked. She was certain she already knew. "And if you tell me I can find out by reading your paper in the morning..."

"CJ, the Post doesn't get involved in personal vendettas. He's saying you didn't hire him because you and he were involved years ago. You're getting your revenge on him by not promoting him. There was some other stuff he's saying, but I don't what to get into that."

"Okay. Listen thanks for warning me. I know you didn't have to."

"I think the whole thing is stupid myself, but I know someone is going to do it."

"Danny, you know it's going to be in print tomorrow don't you?"

"Yeah."

"Who?"

"I'm not going to tell that. But it won't be in the Post. We may have to pick the story up, but I'm not breaking it."

"Okay." CJ said as she hung up the phone. She had thought nothing was going to come of this. There had been nothing in the papers about their conversation at the Kennedy Center. That time in her life had been so long ago, and honestly she didn't think about it much. It was hard for her to think that it would come back and cause her so much pain, but it was going to. Sighing she picked up the phone to try to find out who had the story.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Three hours later CJ was walking into the West Wing. It had taken her two hours to find out who was printing the story. Once she found out, she called Leo. She didn't want to tell him any of this over the phone, so she asked him to come in so she could tell him.

"Leo." She said as she knocked on the door.

"Come in." He said. "You said on the phone that we have a situation?"

"Yeah."

"Well, what is it?"

"It involves me." CJ said quietly.

"CJ, go on."

"Tad Whitney is accusing me of not hiring him because of a past relationship I had with him."

"Who the hell is Tad Whitney?"

"A State Department spokesman. I interviewed him for the deputy post."

"Okay, and he's pissed because you didn't hire him?"

"To put it mildly yes."

"Any truth in what he is saying?"

"None at all."

"Okay, that's how you handle it. I'm certain you can prove that you hired whomever the hell you hired because he was more qualified."

"Yes."

"Then that's what you do."

"Okay."

"CJ." Leo said as she reached the door.

"Yeah."

"Don't worry about it. Tad Whitney is behaving like a jackass. Take him out."

CJ stared at Leo for a moment, wondering how much he knew about that time in her life. As far as she knew he knew nothing. She just smiled slightly and left.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She looked at the paper, and found it was worse than she thought it would be. An exposé, that was what they were calling it. An exposé on her life and hiring practices. They had really done their research, most of the story was there. She couldn't believe it. She couldn't believe this was happening, not after all of this time. That time in her life was a place she didn't want to go back to, but it looked like she was going to be forced to.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Toby had been unable to believe his eyes when he looked at the paper that morning. It had been so long ago. From the moment she had introduced Tad to him, he hadn't liked him. Now he knew why. Toby wondered if he should talk to her, and in the end he decided he should. He was probably the only one who completely understood what she was going through.

He looked into her office, and saw that she was bent over her computer. She seemed to be concentrating heavily on what she was working on. He thought of walking away, but then she looked up and saw him standing in the doorway.

"Toby." She said quietly.

As their gazes met, Toby could see in her eyes exactly where her mind was. It had been a long time since he had seen her look this way. He had hoped he never would see her like this again. She would hide it from everyone else, and even if they saw it they wouldn't know what was really bothering her. They would think she was thinking of Tad Whitney. But Toby knew that was not what she was thinking of. She was thinking of something that had happened before Tad, and had in effect pushed her into Tad's arms. Toby saw her glance at the clock, and realized she had to do a briefing soon.

"Is there anything I can do for you?" He asked, and then he cursed himself. She would think he was seeing her as weak, and there could be nothing that was further from the truth.

"You could go out there and face the wolves for me."

"I don't think that would be a good idea. The woman who wrote this piece of trash is out there, and I would like to throttle her right now."

"You know I wouldn't complain if you did." CJ said as she got ready to leave. Toby had been a constant in her life for so long. She really didn't know what she would do without him at times. She hoped she would never have to find out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She made it through the briefing, most of the questions were on the article. She thought she answered them well. It was obvious that many of them were wondering if she would break as she was answering the questions. She had no intention of doing that. There was no way in hell that she would let Tad Whitney think that he could do that to her. She spent most of the rest of the day in her office. Josh came by to talk with her a couple of times. She spoke with Leo on the phone a few times as well. He seemed to think that she had handled the situation well, and that all they could do now was wait for the story to pass. There would be something else that would fascinate the press, and soon she would be out of the news. She called the super of her building as she was getting ready to leave, and was told that the press was camped out waiting for her to come home. She knew that it would be the tabloid reporters who were camped out there, and she didn't want to face them. She decided to stay in a hotel that night. She needed to tell someone what she would be doing, but it seemed there was no one else there. When she walked by Toby's office she saw that he was still there.

"You handled it well today." He said when he saw her standing in his doorway.

"Thanks. The tabloids are camping out on my doorstep."

"That's not too surprising."

"No, it's not, but I don't want to face them."

"Then what are you going to do?'

"I'm going to stay at a hotel."

"No, you're not."

"What do you advise. Go home, and be the lead story on every tabloid TV show in the country?"

"You could stay with me."

"Toby."

"No, seriously. You can stay with me."

"Toby, you don't have to do this."

"I know that."

"Okay."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She knew he was watching her. It was nothing unusual he did that a lot. He had done it for years. It started when, she wouldn't let her brain complete that thought, it was too painful. It made sense to her that she was thinking about it. After all, it was what had started her on the journey that led her to Tad. She starred at the photo in her hand for several minutes. She couldn't help but think of how happy she had been the day it was taken.

Toby had never thought this would happen. CJ was standing in his living room, wearing a pair of his old sweats. He immediately felt guilty for thinking that. He wished the circumstances were different, and hoped there was something he would be able to do to help her.

"You handled everything well today." Toby said.

"No, I didn't. If I had been handling things well, I never would have been in this situation."

"CJ."

"No, Toby is the truth. If I had not been trying to escape from my life back then, this never would have happened."

"CJ, you weren't trying to escape from anything."

"Really, Toby, I buried my fiancee six months before I became involved with Tad. How would you explain it?"

"Rebound." Toby said simply.

"I guess you could call it that. Or you could say that what Tad said about me is true."

"What he said is not true." Toby said. He walked over to where she was standing and placed his hands on her arms. "Everyone who matters knows that, and I don't want to ever hear you say that again."

"You think I haven't faced it, don't you?"

"CJ..."

"You do, it was obvious when you walked in here, and saw me looking at the photo."

"CJ..."

"No, it's fine." She said glancing at the photo she still held in her hand. It had been taken seven years earlier. It was of her, Toby, and Douglas, her fiancee. It had been taken shortly before they leaned Douglas had cancer. "I'm surprised you still have this."

"Why?"

"If I remember correctly, Andi was there also."

"I cut her out of it recently."

"Yeah I can tell." CJ said. "You know that everything that has happened today had taken me back to this."

"Yeah I know."

"He asked you to take care of me didn't he?" CJ asked quietly.

"He tried. I told him there was no way you would ever allow me to do that."

"That's true, but he still got you to promise him, right?"

"Yeah."

"And you've been trying to do it ever since?"

"Yeah."

"I can take care of myself you know."

"I know that."

"Okay." CJ turned and sat the photo back on the shelf. "I really have faced it. It took me two years but I have."

"I didn't know that."

"One night in California. I was sitting by my pool, and I realized that Douglas would have wanted me to be happy."

"And to stop being so self-destructive?"

"Yeah." CJ said softly. "I stopped wearing it after that."

"The necklace?"

"Yeah."

"When you were so upset after the shooting I wondered if you had been wearing it that night?"

"No, I haven't worn it again until today."

"Why did you wear it today?"

"I don't really know. It just felt right."

"Okay." Toby watched her as she sat down on the couch. He sat down beside her. "What do you plan to do to Tad now?"

"I thought it was enough to prove that he was lying." CJ said.

"Okay, forgive me if I don't think that is enough."

"What are you planning to do?"

"I'm not going to tell you."

"Fine."

They sat in silence for a few minutes before CJ spoke again. "I've never thanked you for everything that you've done."

"There's no need." Toby said, he was uncomfortable with her gratitude.

"No, really. You've gotten me through a lot, including today."

"CJ..."

"I know you are uncomfortable with this conversation, so I'll stop." She leaned over and kissed his cheek. "You are a good friend to me." She said as she laid her head against his shoulder.

"And you to me." Toby said as he put his arm around her. There was no thing he was certain of, the day was ending better than it had begun.

The end.

  

  


End file.
